BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Thanks! I did feel quite fortunate to be allowed so close! Bob

annmariehuber Loc: Wiiliamasport,PA

Nice detail! Appreciate seeing fantastic closeups. Thanks for sharing.

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Thank you! Can only imagine the detail I'd have gotten if I had my Oly XZ-1 in my pocket! Either way its a moment I won't forget! Bob

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Yum! Squirrel tar tar. Great shots and it couldn't have happened to a better animal. Not a fan of squirrels. Cheers.

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Thanks! Being so close and watching the squirrel squirm a little it was a bit sad however that was overshadowed by the reality of being so close to a feeding RTH! Bob

denoferth Loc: Portsmouth, NH

Thanks for those. They brought back wonderful memories of the two I hand-raised in the 1960's.

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Your most welcome! I thought these pics were cool but hand raising a pair of these awesome creatures-now thats cool! Bob

denoferth Loc: Portsmouth, NH

Don't give me too much credit. I like to think I just happened to be the one in a car full of YMCA camp counselors heading back to camp during the first week making it ready for the kids who spotted the abandoned nest. That first year working there four of us were driving to camp one morning in a friend’s Dad's ’52 Plymouth. As we passed over a small cement culvert I spotted a hawk's nest at the top of a dead snag about 100 yards to our right up a little draw. Incidentally, that small bridge under the road at that spot had the largest millipedes I have ever seen in Pennsylvania. They were as big around as my little finger and between 6 and 8 inches long and there were a lot of them. I had noticed the large bird's nest on previous days but never saw any adult bards attending the nest. That was unusual as it was breeding season and I would have expected to see an adult bird or two somewhere in the vicinity. After a few days of watching it became obvious that it was an abandoned nest which was hardly surprising. There were a lot of them in those days because hawks were routinely shot on sight as chicken thieves by farmers.

I routinely looked at it each day as we passed that spot and on this particular day I noticed some movement in the nest. We stopped the car and piled out to have a look. As we watched we saw little heads bobbing above the nest rim so the four of us hiked to the tree to investigate. All of us were pretty athletic in those days, probably from the war games most boys played then so a climb to the top of a 70 foot snag that had no branches was not that much of a challenge. Since I saw the movement I went up first and when my face rose over the rim I saw two chicks and an unhitched egg. Evidently the parent birds had been killed or abandoned it so we decided to rescue the starving birds which were baking in the hot sun. I didn't know it at the time but both chicks imprinted on me and I became their parent from that time on. We held a brief war council at the top of that old snag to consider our options which were very limited. The chicks had just hatched and would be crushed if we tried to put them into our t-shirts and neither the chicks nor egg would survive the 70 foot drop to the brush below. If you can visualize this, the four of us untied and removed our shoe laces with one hand while clinging to the dead tree which was about 4 inches in diameter at the top. We tied the laces together and handed them up the line, each boy tying on his laces in turn to make a long string. I tied my ball cap to that and in that improvised basket, lowered the chicks and dead egg down the row. The last guy then tied it to his belt and we all shimmied back down the snag. I know it seems impossible today but we didn't know that and it was a great adventure at the time.

This particular red tailed hawk stayed with me all summer and was free to fly anytime it wanted. I raised both chicks by feeding them snakes and frogs the kids and I collected during our daily nature hikes along Buffalo Creek. Their diet was enhanced with sparrows shot by the kids on the BB gun range. (It was always risky to walk by the range as you risked getting a welt on your butt from some little delinquent). In my role as mother hawk I showed them how to catch and kill the food that largely consisted of water snakes. Buffalo Creek was literally infested with them in the summer so we had no trouble catching at least two or three during the two per day nature hikes I conducted. These water snakes were very aggressive and usually struck out at anything that disturbed them. I developed a method of catching them that you might have seen on the TV show "Dirty Jobs". I simply let them bite me and after prying their jaws off my hand put them into a screened box we carried along for that purpose. The trick is to not jerk your hand back when the strike occurs because if you do you risk ripping your hand out of the snake's mouth. Since they are fish eaters their mouths are lined with rows of needle like teeth and they cause a nasty gash if you flinch. Consequently, if you remain calm you end up with something less than what you got in the berry patch or from the rose bush. It goes without saying that method only works as long as there are very few poisonous varieties in the area. A quick look at their open mouth was usually enough to tell if there were fangs or not so if there was any doubt I would grab its tail and pin its head instead.

The hawks became the centerpiece of the camp zoo and even made the Washington papers when they sent a reporter and photographer out to do a story about the camp. I think the photo they took has me with the by then adult hawk on one arm and a 5 foot corn snake coiled up on my other shoulder. One of these days I would like to go back to Washington, Pa and check the newspaper archives to see if it’s still to be found. One of the hawks was taken by a counselor who was let go early. The other became my friend and stayed with me all summer. I would call like a hawk and it would fly down and perch on my arm, staring into my eyes. I still have the marks from when it would lose its balance and fall upside down, flapping it's wings while trying to regain its balance, all the time still locked on my arm with its talons. I still have the scars to prove it too. Being ignorant of all ways falconry, I didn't know about arm guards, jesses and the like until many years later. When I judged it to be old enough I encouraged it to fly by running with it and launching it like a model airplane. Even more remarkable, the next year I saw a hawk on a branch overlooking the camp dump and on a whim called to it. It responded in kind, flew down and perched on my arm as if a year hadn't passed since the last time it saw me. It must be remembered that red tails migrate over the winter and this bird had not only survived its first winter migration but still knew me well enough to feel safe on my arm. It stayed with me all summer but I never saw in again after I left camp that year. Unfortunately, I was too dumb to comprehend just how profound those moments were at the time. Ultimately our bitterest regrets are chances not taken, relationships we were afraid to have and decisions we waited too long to make.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Stunning work and story ! Thanks for sharing ! Sadly, I think it shows how desparate all wildlife is in the cold and snow up there !

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I have seen Red Shouldered hawk flying with a a live squirrel - did not get a picture of it - but something I'll never forget.....

brucew29 Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

Nice capture Bob... reminds me of a Boy Scout motto... "Be Prepared"...

Ramled Loc: Victoria, British Columbia

Great job! You were at the right place, at the right time and ready. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

ckt1945 Loc: Waterloo, SC

suburb work with the cell!

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Thank you for taking the time to convey that wonderful story! Sounds like it should be made into a Disney movie-seriously! You may not have been aware of how profound those moments were at the time but they were imprinted deeply and have lasted a life time. Bob

BobR Loc: Norwalk CT USA

Thanks! I almost regretted bothering it. I was driven to get the shot and quite frankly expected him to fly off. Bob